Opinions on where to place my coop? [Pictures!]

[Deebot]

The coop is mostly assembled and being painted. But we aren't sure where to put it!
Here are three options I'm thinking of. My first idea was C but I wasn't sure if it was too shady..

A - Pros: Lots of space. Power access. Under apple tree. Full, direct sun all day.
Cons: Further from water, gotta get a longer hose haha. Right next to driveway, not sure if that's a problem. On the direct other side of the driveway is the neighbors barking dog and I'm not sure if chickens nearby would keep him fired up.

B - Pros: Very close to water and power, if needed. Shielded from road view. Direct sun all day.
Cons: Close to the house. Kind of hard to view from windows.

C - Pros: Right next to garage so water, power, food storage.
Cons: Close to house. Mostly shaded by trees except for the morning. Closer to back fence so closer to neighbors. Would have to drag the chicken tractor over the driveway to get out front?

There are probably other things I'm not thinking of. Any advice is very much appreciated!!

 

[Chad Oftedal]

From what you have described, "C" would be my vote.

A - direct sun all day is probably not ideal, though I'm sure you could figure out shade. The bigger issue in my mind would be close to the road. Chicken gets out, someone decides to mess with them, unpredictable dog behavior close by (might be the dog doesn't care in the least), but if it does, the chickens are always "right there" nearby, and that just seems like it could lead to trouble.

B - direct sun all day - see comments in "A". My coop isn't viewable from the house at all, and I have cameras set up that I can check in on them on my phone. They are in a safe, protected space where they are, so it's more just for my enjoyment when I check in on them. But, it'd be cool if the layout were different and I could just watch from a window. If I had a choice - which I didn't - when setting the location, one with a view would be near the top, just to enjoy them more.

C - this seems the best to me. They get some sun in the morning, but in the heat of the day, they have shade. Granted, you're in Vancouver, and not Phoenix, but they are happier when cool vs. hot. Big bonus for power, water and food storage. That'll be very handy over the years. As far as neighbors, I'd just make sure you don't have minimum setbacks that come into play. In my case, 10 feet from property line which happens to be a fence. Unless you are talking substantial distance, neighbors are probably going to hear the chickens anyway. Granted, if it is near their bedroom window, any extra space you can provide helps, but if it is just them hearing them in general, I don't know that you can fully block that. When they start singing, it'll carry plenty far. Mine are 25-30 yards from the house, through double pane windows, and you can still hear them when they sing their little hearts out after laying an egg. For me, it mostly becomes white noise, and I don't mind it anyway. As for the tractor and driveway, I can't really comment there. No experience. My tractor is a John Deere mower, and I think that's a whole different deal.

 

[goldysgirl]

I am not sure looking at your setup, but i will tell you about my experience and maybe that will help. We put our first coop in the woods when we moved in. We didn't realize there were lots of ticks and lyme disease and a couple of the huge aspen trees above died and were leaning over the coop. It is probably 75 yards from the house and too far to run electric. We live in bear country. And there is the lugging of water and trudging through winter snow. I had my husband build a new coop about 30 feet from the house because I was afraid the trees were going to kill me or I would get lyme. I love my new coop. It gets sun in the morning and early afternoon, but has a hill and trees directly behind it, so it doesn't get too hot. We live in PA. I can easily run electric, collect eggs, monitor the motion light, and can see the birds from certain angles. Not far to walk in the snow either. I got a lot more birds this year, so we cleaned up the old coop in the woods and i am using it. The huge trees fell right in the chicken yard next to the coop door. If i had been there, i would not be here. I have removed all of the brush, buzzed the weeds down, and closely check myself for ticks after every trip out there. Those birds free range because unfortunately the tree falls destroyed my huge fully enclosed chicken yard. That is where I keep any troublemakers like aggresive birds and roos because I am a softy and haven't quite gotten accustomed to farm ways.

 

[Duck_life]

I'm going with "c"

 

[goldysgirl]

From what you have described, "C" would be my vote.

A - direct sun all day is probably not ideal, though I'm sure you could figure out shade. The bigger issue in my mind would be close to the road. Chicken gets out, someone decides to mess with them, unpredictable dog behavior close by (might be the dog doesn't care in the least), but if it does, the chickens are always "right there" nearby, and that just seems like it could lead to trouble.

B - direct sun all day - see comments in "A". My coop isn't viewable from the house at all, and I have cameras set up that I can check in on them on my phone. They are in a safe, protected space where they are, so it's more just for my enjoyment when I check in on them. But, it'd be cool if the layout were different and I could just watch from a window. If I had a choice - which I didn't - when setting the location, one with a view would be near the top, just to enjoy them more.

C - this seems the best to me. They get some sun in the morning, but in the heat of the day, they have shade. Granted, you're in Vancouver, and not Phoenix, but they are happier when cool vs. hot. Big bonus for power, water and food storage. That'll be very handy over the years. As far as neighbors, I'd just make sure you don't have minimum setbacks that come into play. In my case, 10 feet from property line which happens to be a fence. Unless you are talking substantial distance, neighbors are probably going to hear the chickens anyway. Granted, if it is near their bedroom window, any extra space you can provide helps, but if it is just them hearing them in general, I don't know that you can fully block that. When they start singing, it'll carry plenty far. Mine are 25-30 yards from the house, through double pane windows, and you can still hear them when they sing their little hearts out after laying an egg. For me, it mostly becomes white noise, and I don't mind it anyway. As for the tractor and driveway, I can't really comment there. No experience. My tractor is a John Deere mower, and I think that's a whole different deal.

I wish everyone could enjoy chicken songs and roosters crowing as much as I do! I think it is beautiful. My sound machine covers up the roo crows until I am ready to get up, too. I couldn't have close neighbors because the morning here is a rooster orchestra!

 

[Deebot]

From what you have described, "C" would be my vote.

A - direct sun all day is probably not ideal, though I'm sure you could figure out shade. The bigger issue in my mind would be close to the road. Chicken gets out, someone decides to mess with them, unpredictable dog behavior close by (might be the dog doesn't care in the least), but if it does, the chickens are always "right there" nearby, and that just seems like it could lead to trouble.

B - direct sun all day - see comments in "A". My coop isn't viewable from the house at all, and I have cameras set up that I can check in on them on my phone. They are in a safe, protected space where they are, so it's more just for my enjoyment when I check in on them. But, it'd be cool if the layout were different and I could just watch from a window. If I had a choice - which I didn't - when setting the location, one with a view would be near the top, just to enjoy them more.

C - this seems the best to me. They get some sun in the morning, but in the heat of the day, they have shade. Granted, you're in Vancouver, and not Phoenix, but they are happier when cool vs. hot. Big bonus for power, water and food storage. That'll be very handy over the years. As far as neighbors, I'd just make sure you don't have minimum setbacks that come into play. In my case, 10 feet from property line which happens to be a fence. Unless you are talking substantial distance, neighbors are probably going to hear the chickens anyway. Granted, if it is near their bedroom window, any extra space you can provide helps, but if it is just them hearing them in general, I don't know that you can fully block that. When they start singing, it'll carry plenty far. Mine are 25-30 yards from the house, through double pane windows, and you can still hear them when they sing their little hearts out after laying an egg. For me, it mostly becomes white noise, and I don't mind it anyway. As for the tractor and driveway, I can't really comment there. No experience. My tractor is a John Deere mower, and I think that's a whole different deal.

Thank you for your response! I had heard conflicting things on if chickens should have a lot of sun all day. I am not terribly concerned with them getting out as I'll clip their wings if I need to, plus my entire property is fenced in with hog wire. There's also a line of hedge trees and the neighbors chainlink between their dog and my driveway but the chickens shouldnt be getting out of the fenced/gated yard. So hopefully no runaways. Lol.

I'm not sure the size of their backyards between their fence and mine, but to my knowledge there's no minimum setbacks for here. But C should be 10 feet from the fence at least. However it's only going to be a few yards from the back of our house, so I was unsure about pests and smells. I don't think the sounds will bother me at all, in fact I'll probably enjoy it The backyard is also where the dogs hang out the most, so I'm thinking they'll deter predators late at night when we let them out too

 

[rosemarythyme]

I also vote C, shade is better than full sun. Having power and water close by is also ideal.

 

[Lisa G.]

I vote C as well. Shade is really important. Make sure to give neighbors lots of eggs and make sure to keep everything clean so no one has fly problem.